State seeks Zero Lake road easement and flags possible shooting-range contamination

The Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection has applied for a public access easement with no end date over about 17 miles of logging road north of Houston, and says in its application that contamination from an informal shooting range may be present along the route.

"Contamination associated with an informal shooting range may be present in 18N3W section 16," Mat-Su/Southwest Area Forester Stephen Nickel wrote in an environmental risk questionnaire he signed Nov. 6. The application was made public Friday.

The easement would cover the existing gravel road network in the Zero Lake area, which connects to the Parks Highway at milepost 59 and includes the Mike Peacock Experimental Forest. It would be 200 feet wide and total about 412 acres. The division has used the roads for timber operations and public firewood cutting since the 1980s. The public notice lists the purposes as emergency response, firewood cutting and commercial timber, recreation and subsistence use, and training grounds for local mushing groups.

No new construction or roadwork is planned, according to the application.

State land managers found three informal shooting ranges along Zero Lake Road on May 19, with spent casings and abandoned vehicles used as targets, according to a preliminary decision on a separate proposal to convey nearly 20,000 acres north of Houston to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. In August, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly set aside land on Zero Lake Road for a future shooting range.

The Division of Mining, Land and Water's Southcentral Regional Land Office is taking written comments through Dec. 14.